Horimiya

Episode 5

This is the first episode with Remi as a character where I haven't actively disliked her for her role in it. She's hardly the most important part of this episode, but the sheer fact that she didn't ruin those bits she was in makes it noteworthy anyway, because this time she shows us that there is in fact one thing she's capable of: being a good friend to Sakura. While Sakura's part this week is also small – although arguably more important, because it shows how closely she's been watching Toru – what stands out about it is that when she blows Remi off, feeling bitter about how much cuter she believes her friend to be, Remi doesn't get angry in return. She's confused and a little hurt, but ultimately she's still there for her when Sakura realizes what she's done, and a small flashback shows us that she really always has been. That doesn't excuse how Remi's treated Hori, but it does do a good job of bringing her back in line with the series' premise, that everyone is multi-faceted and no one is exclusively how they at first appear.

That's something that we'd better hope is true about Hori's dad, too. He makes his first appearance this week and instantly comes off as abrasive to his daughter, who does not appear to be all that glad to see him. At least part of that is because he interrupts what's shaping up to be a major moment between Kyoko and Izumi, but the fact that he just shows up with no warning whatsoever and demands food seems like the bigger issue. Apparently, this is the norm for him, and that can't be easy to live with – something affirmed by her mom's reaction to her erstwhile husband's reappearance, as she makes it very clear that she's valuing Miyamura's place at the dinner table over her husband's. This does put poor Izumi in a very awkward position, but then he has been since the man walked through the door and demanded to know who this guy his daughter is sharing a chair with is.

Maybe that's made up for, though, when Kyoko responds to her dad's question of whether or not Izumi is her boyfriend. After a brief hesitation, she goes with the affirmative, albeit in a tone of voice that challenges both her dad and the boy in question to disagree with her. That's understandable given that she spent most of the day being a jerk based on the usual rom-com misunderstanding of thinking he was “cheating” on her (which is impossible, because they weren't going out yet) when Souta reports having seen him walking with another girl. Her yes to them going out makes up for that, however, by cutting the miscommunication part of our story blessedly short. In almost any romance that's my least favorite part: the inevitable moments/episodes/pages where absolutely everything could be solved by the leads just talking to each other and yet stubbornly not. We dodge that bullet three times this week, which is incredibly impressive: Hori and Miyamura actively discuss their problem, Miyamura tells Toru that he and Hori are now going out, and Sakura goes back to talk to Remi. In almost any other story, these discussions would have been put off for at least one, if not more, episodes in order to facilitate DRAMA, and it's really to Horimiya's credit that it doesn't indulge.

It also gives us something that we don't often get to see in romance anime (or novels, for that matter): a story that doesn't end the moment a relationship solidifies. While I'd still have preferred a few more episodes of them being friends and slowly growing closer – a pace a bit more like the source material – that we don't jump straight to happily ever after is a bonus, because we've got a relationship with these characters and an investment in their romance; seeing them continue to live it while acknowledging that, to paraphrase Shakespeare, there are plenty of bumps in the course of true love really gives Horimiya an edge. I'm sure that things won't be easy, but the first major hurdles have been cleared, and if things get too annoying, you can always go back and watch that moment of puppy dog hopefulness on Izumi's face as he waits for Hori to answer her father all over again.

Rating:

Horimiya is currently streaming on FUNimation Entertainment.